


Ignorance

by LadyEtherKnight



Category: Kirby (Video Games)
Genre: Flashbacks, Kirby: Planet Robobot, This will make you hate Susie, dark themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:28:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24339646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyEtherKnight/pseuds/LadyEtherKnight
Summary: The Battleship Halberd destroyed and his crew on the run, the Lone Swordsman Meta Knight is captured by a women named Susie. Just who was she, and what did she want from him?
Kudos: 51





	Ignorance

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies if some details are incorrect. I haven't actually played Planet Robobot - only watched the gameplay. Hope you enjoy!
> 
> CW: This contains non-graphic torture, a little blood and some violence.

_“Report!” He thundered over the deafening din, slicing through a robot that leapt at him, mechanical eyes lifeless yet menacing.  
  
_ _“It’s not looking good at all, sir!” One member of his crew responded, though he could not pinpoint precisely who it was through the barrages of gunfire and explosions by the enemy. “The Halberd is in critical condition and completely disabled: all weapons, thrusters and engines are unusable including emergency backup. Chances of survival on board are nought-point-nought-five percent!”_

_He felt numb as his ship was overrun by swarms of automated robotic chimeras, knowing that it was his fault, that he had been the one to order an intervention when he had seen them heading towards his planet. But he could not have just done nothing; he was the sworn protector of Dreamland, the legendary knight of Popstar; it was his job._

_“Follow me!” He commanded, and his crew raced after him in an emergency compartment located starboard of his once-magnificent warship, locking the door securely behind them before bundling in, and a resigned silence lingered between the company for what seemed like millenniums._

_“My Lord, what are we going to do?” Sailor Waddle Dee trembled, surprisingly the first to speak. The silence buzzed again when the small servant voiced every single one of the company's thoughts, somehow louder then even the enemy gunfire which rattled the ship — now at the end of its tether and being held together by mere splinters._

_“We do not have much time, my students.” His eyes dimmed with resignation. “I will hold them off for as long as possible, until you all escape to safety.”_

_There were cries of outrage. “But, sir!” Blade Knight protested. “Nova only knows what they’ll do to you!”_

_“I am aware of that fact.” The warrior mumbles, almost sadly. “But better one than many. We will most likely be overrun and we are hopelessly outnumbered. My students, if I am captured or worse, I will tell you now how I am honoured to be your leader and I am very proud of you. Today, I have failed you, and I hope you can forgive me.”_

_“What? Sir, you haven’t failed us!” Axe Knight cried. “You were just doing your job! You'd have only failed us if you just sat there and did nothing to stop the attack! We've vowed to serve and fight for you every step of the way so that's what we did. If there's anyone who failed today, that's us!” The rest of the crew agrees, and the warrior feels unworthy, not able to bring himself to agree with them. He had brought his students into trouble before and promised nothing like that would ever happen to them again. He had broken that promise._

_Incredible guilt weighed on him._

_The door of the compartment rattled. The congregation could see the enemy trying to tear it down through the small window embedded inside. The door was strong, but the robots would get through._

_“Flee!” He shouted to his crew, brandishing his sword and preparing to fight for his life and for the lives of his crew. He strained against the door, pushing all of his weight against it. “Find Kirby and warn him—“_

_“We will not abandon our—"_

_“ **That is an order!** ” He roared._

_His crew took one long look at him and fled, dragging Sailor Dee behind them, who was sobbing heavily and refusing to leave his leader behind. But the knight was right, he was always right; they would not win this. He was willing to sacrifice his own life for his students, and they would not let his sacrifice be in vain._

_The knight, battered but determined, fought the waves of robots when they burst in, his golden sword flashing with resolve and his eyes burning with willpower. He was a warrior of unparalleled strength and skill; but not even he could fight off the might of this enemy. He felt something hit his head, and his vision flashed and darkened before he collapsed._

* * *

  
Meta Knight’s eyes opened, and the first sensation he felt was a splitting headache. His vision was blurred, his head felt hazy and his entire body felt stiff and detached, like he had been numbed of feeling throughout.

Then he remembered everything in floods of memory. The _Halberd_. His soldiers. The salvo of gunfire... and he didn’t remember what came after that. What had happened to him? Why had – ah, yes, he had lost consciousness. He had been fighting the robots, he had… What had happened to his warship… his soldiers… _his soldiers_ … _Were they safe_?!

He tried to get up and move his arms to attempt to reach for his sword Galaxia, but his entire body didn’t seem to want to comply to his wishes. He needed to keep fighting like he had all of his life, he didn’t care that his body screamed in protest as his head throbbed, and that he felt strangely, unnaturally uncomfortable… but he couldn’t move, couldn’t move at all… _Why couldn’t he move—_

His questions were answers when he realised that his arms and feet were clamped down to some sort of metal surface that he was lying on.

_“What the—”_ He struggled against the bonds, but they were so tight they almost cut his arms. He tried to lurch his body away from the surface, but the bonds held fast. He concluded, therefore, that he had been captured by the enemy and dragged here.

But where was ‘here’ precisely?

He took a moment to look around, realising that he was in some sort of workshop, furnished as an office: it had comfortable-looking seating, pink-and-white walls, and some photos of a logo that looked like a jagged letter ‘H’ that he did not recognise, and a curious-looking man with purple hair and icy blue eyes, with the words ‘The Noble Haltmann’ written underneath it. A large desk stood in the corner of the room with blueprints spread out of a mechanical project he couldn't make out.

That was about the level of normal that his surroundings reached. Huge cylindrical machines stood tall to both of his sides, with smaller, separate monitors branching off, lighting up with white statistical numbers that meant nothing to him. Wires protruded from the machines and towards a smaller computer that displayed his heart rate and some text. He could make out some of what the larger text said. It said ‘Condition: Stable. Safe to undergo Phase Two’.

_Phase Two…?_

His eyes followed the wires that went from the smaller computer. He bent his body far enough to realise that the wires connected to him: to both of his sides, and his back.

Meta Knight did not know what this meant.

_Beep beep. Beep beep._ The steady bleeping of the heart monitor was almost ominous now. He wasn’t in a workshop — He was in a laboratory.

For the first time, the mask on his face felt uncomfortable, like he was being restricted further.

The metal door of the laboratory zipped up from the bottom to the top, and the knight watched intently as someone walked in with silent steps, humming a tune that he did not recognise. The figure, a slender, pink-haired woman, turned to the blueprints and begun to write something on them using a white pen.

“You know, I am not surprised that you regained consciousness so quickly.” She spoke in a deceptively smooth but business-like manner. “You are a very strong individual, Sir Meta Knight. Perhaps expected from a warrior as seasoned as yourself.” She turned to him fully, meeting his gaze with her own deep azure eyes, highlighted with dark eyeliner. Those eyes were cold, calculating, observant. 

Meta Knight said nothing.

“Not the talkative one, I see. Many who I bring here often end up screaming at me to let them go.” She giggled; a bittersweet sound; like she had said a funny joke. “Do I intimidate you that much?”

“You do nothing of the sort.” Meta Knight replied, as calmly as he ever did, despite his previous panic. His own deep bass voice sounded brittle and alien to his ears.

“Oh, I am aware of that.” She giggles again and approaches the surface which he was bound to. She presses a few buttons on the side of the surface, and there was a hum as it was lifted slightly so he was positioned diagonally forward. “There. Now we can speak like civilised beings.”

Meta Knight stared at her. Something about this women chilled him more than any of the other enemies he had encountered. He knew from experience: that from behind her polite exterior, lay someone emotionless, unsympathetic, a predator that aimed to ensnare him into a trap to convince him that what she was doing or going to do to him was with no malicious intent. He had met many enemies like this. What was different, is she had full knowledge of what she was doing. She was not delusional or anything of that sort. She had even admitted that she would capture other people against their will – and seemed almost proud of it. He had no idea who she was, but he knew from there on that he was completely at her mercy and nothing he could say, or do, would let him go.

“May I ask, who are you and what do you wish to do with me?” Meta Knight asks her, his voice level and completely devoid of emotion.

“Ah, of course! Where are my manners?” She calmly brushed a string of her straight, pink hair behind her ear. “My name is Susie, Secretary to the Noble Haltmann of the Haltmann Works Company. You’re here because of a very special project we’re hoping to undertake, and we believe that you would be a perfect asset.”

“Project?” Meta Knight felt a thrill of foreboding, even though he was far from frightened. He noted the use of the word ‘asset’. “I am assuming that I have no choice in the matter. And what project would that be?”

“Not one beat around the bush, are you?” Despite having no visible mouth, Meta Knight could tell that this woman, Susie, was smiling from her eyes. “Well, you have the honour of being part of Haltmann Works’ most influential strategy yet: the _Mechanising Occupation Project._ We take organic life in the planets we settle in; untouched and unoptimised; and, well... upgrade it with technology, in a bid to expand our influence throughout the galaxy.”

“You wish to take something completely content with its own organic body and mechanise it against its own will?” He felt anger beginning to boil up inside him, but he forced himself to calm down; it would get him nowhere. He could not, however, stop his eyes in fading from bright gold to a blood red. “And I am assuming that Popstar is not the only planet you wish to abduct, or perhaps already abducted?”

“When you put it like that, it sounds rather crude. Fundamentally, you are correct: we have already begun to enhance the planets Ripple Star and Halcandra, which are locations that I am sure that someone of your intelligence is familiar with.”

The warrior repressed a horrified gasp, his fists clenching. His eyes deepened further into their furious dark scarlet. “You fiend! What have you done?”

“Please calm down.” She raised her hands in a peaceful gesture. “They are not harmed, as they have found resistance to be futile; The Noble Haltmann has seen to it. Your planet, it seemed, accepted us and therefore avoided the stakes of defiance.”

“You are wrong. Our planet has not surrendered. Its inhabitants will stand up to you and rid the galaxy of your ever-growing stain.” His tone was low and dangerous, yet calm. By inhabitants, he had meant one of Gamble Galaxy's greatest protectors — an incredibly powerful small child named Kirby whom Meta Knight had taken upon himself to mentor and to refine his abilities.

Oh, Kirby. He had too much responsibility on his shoulders, and he was only an infant. _You are this galaxy's only hope._ “You say you are not willing to harm Popstar and its citizens, and yet, I am here, strapped to a table with wires connected to me.”

“This is why I like you, Meta Knight. So confident, so wickedly smart, as a knight of the highest order should be.” Susie pressed a few buttons, and a wire that he could feel attached to his back, beneath his cape, throbbed uncomfortably. “But you are misguided. We are not the enemy, but we are the opposition; to you, it seems. I said earlier that surrender is peace. You did not surrender, and neither did some of your... friends. You therefore must pay for your resistance. And so must they.”

“Do as you wish to me. I will not adhere to your demands, and be aware that _they_ will not either.” He growls defiantly, lowering his red gaze.

“Mindful yet nescient words, but not everyone thinks like you. But I can tell you with absolute certainty that you will comply, Meta Knight, whether you like it or not.” She touched the cape that flowed from his shoulders. “First of all, before I commence Phase Two: I cannot continue without this step being completed — How do you morph from your cape to your wings as you demonstrated during your little brawl with our robots aboard your warship?” She looked him over. “It is fascinating technology.”

Meta Knight narrowed his eyes. “It is of no technology that I do such a thing. And if you believe for a second that I will reveal my wings to you, then you are gravely mistaken.”

“I am aware.” The secretary calmly pressed a few buttons on the computer opposite of him, and sighed. “Suffering is truly unnecessary. I have another way of making you reveal your wings that you would not have even construed as a possibility, but this method is more about sending a message then anything else.”

She lifted a lever slightly, and tapped on the screen.

Meta Knight knew nothing else when it came.

_The pure, undiluted, terrible **pain**. _

He gritted his teeth to prevent himself from screaming out loud as merciless bolts of electricity fired into his very being, sharp needles slowly piercing into him... it felt like knives digging across his skin- 

_-Pain pain oh how familiar yet still so so effective please stop this stay strong but oh how he so wanted it to END—_

And then it stopped.

He lay limp in his bonds, his body heaving with harsh, ragged breaths. “You have felt this before. Pain is not unfamiliar to you, is it?” Susie shook her head with fabricated sympathy, absentmindedly smoothing out his cape with one of her yellow-gloved hands. Her eyes were chips of ice, inhuman, uncaring, as she ran the back of her hand along his mask. It made him recoil in disgust. “Please do not do this to yourself. I do not want a lifeless body on my hands.”

“Then, over...” He coughed, barely suppressing a whimper. He could hear his heart monitor, bleeping frantically. Blood trickled down his back. Yet his tone regained its fire, and a frightening growl that befitted an animal tore from his throat. “Over my lifeless body it shall be. You will _not_ have my wings.”

“I will.” Her tone was light as she positioned a few claw machines that hovered just above him. “Also, there is no shame in screaming. I’m sorry it had to be this way.” She lifted the lever a little more.

"I do not fear death." He hissed, bracing himself.

"I know." She spoke casually.

The pain came again, excruciating, debilitating. It was worse now; so, so much worse; and he could barely contain his cries of torture. But no, no he would not give up, _for Kirby, for his crew on the Halberd, for Dreamland, for Popstar_. His entire body convulsed as the torture worsened to an almost unbearable level. This time, he howled in agony as the shocks travelled through his whole body, bleeding from where the wires connected to his body. He felt tears pricking his eyes, pulses of electricity jerking his body, _make it end, make it END_ —

The shocks disappeared, and he could barely even keep conscious. His vision was blurred and murky; his mind felt disoriented from his body; and every breath hurt as it rasped in short bursts, throat dry and aching for water. His heartbeat was frantic, irregular; his wings twitched uncontrollably; he tasted copper in his mouth, he—

_Wait_.

Why could he feel his wings?

Meta Knight was completely shocked to find that his wings, which he had refused to reveal earlier, were now being clamped by those two metal claws that had been positioned above him a minute ago. _Impossible_. How had she...?

“You see, those electric shocks I gave you was not for meaningless torture. Don’t look so appalled. I am a secretary, not a sadist.” Susie says in her professional tone, as if she hadn’t just sent him through a world of pain and hell. “I simply sent enough electricity to trigger the nerve that is responsible for the reflex which reveals your wings.”

Meta Knight did not answer. It was anguish to even breathe, let alone speak. Instead, he shot her a terrifying, blood red glare, possessing a hatred that could shatter glass.

She just smiles at him, unfazed. “I really like you, Sir Meta Knight. You impress me; you really do. But you see, your body fails you as I have demonstrated here, and that is what Haltmann Works aims to fix.” Her voice lowered to a sneer. “Of course, you were too ignorant to realise it.”

Meta Knight’s vicious glare flitted from her to the small computer. Now, it said: ‘Condition: Stable. Phase Two, commencing.’

Susie touched the screen, and he let out a guttural yell as his head felt like it was about to split open. It was like something was drilling into him at an agonising pace. “Repeat after me. You are now Model #M-7110 — _Mecha Knight_.”

“ _No, never!_ ” He snarled, just wanting to die as he writhed in suffering. He could feel his control, his will which stood as firm as steel, slipping. And he could not control it. Quite literally.

“You are Model #M-7110, Mecha Knight.”

_I am Meta Knight. I am Meta Knight, Star Warrior. I am Dreamland’s protector, I am Kirby’s friend and mentor—_

_“I AM META KNIGHT AND I— I am...”_

“You are Model #M-7110, Mecha Knight.”

“I am Mod— _I AM META KN_ — I am Model #M-711—"

_I'm sorry, Kirby._

"Model #M-7110, Mecha Knight. Praise be to the Noble Haltmann. Target: Acquired. Battle Sequence: Activated."

_I'm sorry._


End file.
